Suspected Cybercriminals Behind Attacks Against Estonia Detained in Bucharest - Tallinn

HELSINKI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th September, 2020) Three Romanian citizens suspected of being behind cyberattacks against Estonian residents have been detained in Bucharest, Prosecutor Eleliis Rattam from the Estonian Prosecutor General's Office said on Tuesday, adding that Tallinn had requested the extradition of the suspects to proceed with legal actions.

According to Rattam, international cooperation plays an important role in the investigation of cybercrimes.

"In this case, we are dealing with a continuous and voluminous criminal proceedings, for which an investigation team was created together with colleagues from Lithuania and Romania. To collect evidence, we cooperated with dozens of countries around the world. To bring charges against the detained suspects, we requested their extradition by Romania to the Republic of Estonia," the prosecutor told the Estonian Public Broadcasting ERR.

Rattam added that a wave of phishing scams started in 2019, when e-mails and SMS messages were sent to Estonian residents, allegedly on behalf of banks, notifying them of the received money transfers or a request to update account details. By getting access to personal bank accounts, the scammers transferred money to their own accounts. The last cyberattack in this series took place just a day before the suspects were arrested.

According to rough estimates, the number of phishing emails in Estonia could reach up to 100,000 and the cybercriminals managed to gain access to at least 400 bank accounts. The total amount of damage was estimated at more than 100,000 Euros ($117,368).